"It is a lot of running around in circles, trying to make the best of all
the available information. People who are new to the Net say, 'Help! How do
I limit the flood of information coming in?' My response is, 'Welcome to the
Net,'" says researcher David Lewis.
With two university degrees -- one in psychology and one in business --
people often asked Lewis a lot of questions. He owned his own desktop publishing
company and realized what a great information resource the Internet provided.
So he decided to take on Internet research services as well.
While he likes being his own boss, Lewis admits working freelance hasn't
always been easy. "It can be tough, especially if you're not feeling motivated.
A rainy February afternoon isn't a nice time to go pounding the pavement to
find more contract work. It's also a pretty meager living."
The business itself isn't the only challenge facing Lewis: surfing the
Internet can be frustrating in itself.
"The flow of information does seem random and threatening. I think of working
on the Internet as an extension of looking up books in library card catalogs.
You find the names of 15 books, but half of them are on hold and the other
half are out or lost. You may get only one of those books, but you can look
through the bibliography and there's an even better book you had never heard
of."
But the work does have its perks. "I like it a lot. The Internet is rich
in the possibilities it has to offer. I can structure my hours -- as long
as I'm serving my client's needs."
Lewis also gets to learn about all sorts of different subjects. "I have
a variety of customers. People often come to me and want to know facts about
computer-related subjects. One travel agency was setting up a commercial website
and wanted information like what the average rainfall in Hawaii was. A plant
lover wanted me to browse the web for photo resources. I do whatever is required
and whatever comes along.
"It can be difficult if you are working tighter time constraints, but sometimes
you get the right word and you hit a jackpot. I think it really takes the
ability to think sideways, to think of something else the topic might be cross-indexed
under," Lewis says.
Ginna Watts takes a similar approach in her online research. "It's not
magic. I'll get a request for a wide topic. I have to interview my client
and get them to narrow it down to what they really want. I then do a wide
spectrum of searches," she says.
Like Lewis, Watts became an online researcher almost by accident.
"I was working as a freelance technical writer and I would use the Internet
for my own research. People just started asking me for information on certain
topics and I would get it for them through the Net. A really popular question
was on Internet-related technologies," she explains.
The transition from writer to researcher was a fairly natural one for Watts,
who has been doing research on the Internet for years. "It's not like there's
a specific education requirement or training for this work, though a lot of
people who are doing this work have degrees in library science. I have a degree
in history. It's great -- I surf and get paid for it."
And information is what her job is all about. "I really like this job because
I'm very interested in technology. I think it's neat. I'm learning every day,
building a broad base of knowledge. Right now I'm doing work for a biogenetics
company and I'm learning all about plant genetics. I'm a bit of an information
junkie."
The tough part of Watt's job isn't information overload but the business
aspect of freelance work. "Owning a business has changed my life. I've had
to learn to master taxes and to think like a businessperson. Hiring subcontractors,
for example. It's been very educational. For a young woman who has worked
for big companies her whole life, that isn't too easy. Searching the Net --
that's one thing that hasn't changed in my life."
Watts believes there's nothing stopping any young researcher
from selling their services -- except experience on the Net. "Theoretically,
you wouldn't have to know a whole lot. But to find meaningful information
takes a long time, if you don't know what you're doing. It would take you
maybe 12 hours and you wouldn't make a profit."
Both Watts and Lewis agree that Internet research isn't just fun, it's
a promising career path. The problem is predicting where their jobs will be
in the future.
"I believe the future of the Internet will be knowbots -- robots that search
through documents and create a highly customized hit list," says Lewis. "Our
jobs will either become something more specialized or disappear completely.
And so it goes."